British European Airways

global flag carrier, national size, GB.

Ownership: state, flag carrier
Starting fleet: 30 x Vickers Viscount 800, 12 x Douglas DC-3 / C-47, 3 x de Havilland Heron
Bases: LHR
Starting routes: LHR-ORY, LHR-AMS, LHR-BRU, LHR-FRA, LHR-ZRH, LHR-DUB, LHR-MAN, LHR-GCI, LHR-JER, LHR-MAD, LHR-LIS, LHR-CIA, MAN-DUB, EXT-JER
Confidence: estimated (to be verified)

Fleets and networks are approximations for the prototype and are scaled to the model. Source: General knowledge, approximate. Needs a primary source before release.

Evidence

Facts about this airline that were checked against published sources. Fleet counts for 1958 could not be sourced for any airline, so the starting fleets above remain estimates.

Field	Year	Checked value	Agreement	Source
founding / ownership	1958	BOAC formed a British European Airways division on 1 January 1946; BEA became a separate state corporation on 1 August 1946.	confirmed	en.wikipedia.org
fleet: Viscount	1958	"By 1958, BEA had 77 Viscounts in service" per Wikipedia; the 701 sub-type reached 50 in 1960.	differs	en.wikipedia.org
orders: Comet 4B	1958	Six Comet 4B ordered (March 1958 per the BEA page, 1957 per the Comet operators page). First delivery 7 November 1959 (G-APMB) per BEA page, or first two on 16 November 1959 per the operators page. Commercial jet service from 1 April 1960.	new	en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org
fleet: Dragon Rapide (Scilly service)	1958	BEA flew de Havilland Dragon Rapides from Land's End (St Just) to St Mary's from 1 February 1947 until May 1964. The route needed about three aircraft and was BEA's busiest internal route in 1957 with up to 20 round trips a day.	new	landsendairport.co.uk, ukairfieldguide.net
traffic: passengers	1960	3.29 million passengers in 1959-60 and 3.99 million in 1960-61 (65 percent load factor); 25 millionth passenger on 27 September 1960. BEA ranked 12th among the world largest airlines in 1961.	new	en.wikipedia.org, americanbusinesshistory.org